Yankee Stadium

Stadium dimensions in the early days of MLB were not subject to the standard expectations of today. The original Yankee Stadium was especially indicative of this fact as it measured less than 300 feet to each foul pole, yet so deep to left that it was essentially impossible to hit a HR in that direction. Each iteration thereafter made the dimensions a bit less extreme, but its basic shape has held up for nearly an entire century.

Even after the original stadium was torn down and a new one constructed in 2009, Yankee Stadium has always featured a rounded, asymmetrical field with a short porch in right and a particularly deep fence in left. The original short porch was designed specifically with the left-handed Babe Ruth in mind who made a habit of pulling fly balls both long and short into the shallow right-field bleachers.

As it stands today, Yankee Stadium plays 7th most favorable in MLB for home runs. But as one would expect, the outcome of a given fly ball relies heavily on its direction. While right field is one of the top home run spots in MLB, its advantage is effectively offset by how deep the field plays to center and left-center. Overall, Ballpark Pal rates Yankee Stadium 27th for doubles and triples.

Wind can be an important factor at Yankee Stadium. Although it blows at an average of 9.2 mph (9th highest in MLB), the field is especially susceptible. Ballpark Pal rates the venue 3rd most receptive to wind in MLB, and it ranks 2nd overall in day-to-day variation, placing it firmly in the elite tier for environmental volatility. The wind blows out 44% of the time compared to 20% blowing in, with 35% of games featuring crosswinds.

Yankee Stadium is also notable in that it ranks toward the bottom half of the league for carry distance (-1.5% vs league average, 20th overall). This is somewhat surprising given an average start-time temperature of 74 degrees (18th warmest in MLB). With humidity ranking 17th and the stadium sitting just 54 feet above sea level, the slightly reduced carry makes the deep dimensions in left even more difficult to reach despite the inviting short porch in right.